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FS giants in rush for blockchain patents

20 July 2018

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The great blockchain patent chase continues apace, with Barclays, Mastercard and American Express all filing applications in recent weeks.

As picked up by Coindesk, The US Patent and Trademark Office has published two applications from Barclays: one setting out the use of a private blockchain to store identifying information for KYC purposes, the other for using DLT to speed up cryptocurrency transfers.

Meanwhile, Mastercard has been granted a US patent for a method of linking blockchain-based assets to fiat currency accounts to speed up cryptocurrency payments.

And Amex is also busy at the patent office, filing an application for a blockchain-based proof of payment system that can receive "payment confirmation including a transaction amount and a merchant identifier".

In January, EnvisonIP dug around to find 1045 US patents related to the blockchain industry that have been received or are pending but published, with the financial industry dominating the top ten.

Top of the pile was Bank of America, with 43 patents, followed by Mastercard and IBM with 27 each and Fidelity with 14. Other big FS firms on the list included TD Bank with 11, Visa with seven and Nasdaq with five.